Day 6: Our Non-Diving Day in Yap

26 June 2010

Since we fly to Palau tonight, we had to observe the 24-hour no-fly rule as we waited for every last dive induced nitrogen to leave our blood stream. So we entertained ourselves in different ways and learned a lot more about the Yapese. We lazed about in the morning and enjoyed another breakfast in our room as early morning showers rippled through the harbor.

Kayaking started at 9:30 and we boarded a boat that held our kayaks and our guides, Iggy and Richard, who whisked us out to the mangroves. Then, we each clambered into our kayaks and headed into little channels with extensive mangroves rising up on either side of us. We spent an hour or two paddling through the mangrove tunnels as Richard pointed out fruit bats, identified different species of mangrove trees, village footpaths, and how different plants were used in the villages.

After our peaceful exploring, we headed to the “Men’s House” that belongs to one of the villages on the island. We passed the bank (which was a collection of stone money – large, round stones, with circles carved out of the center …like a doughnut) and were invited to sit on the porch of the Men’s House where we enjoyed a fantastic snack of local fruits – including the best passion fruit I have ever tasted – it was incredible! We sat on the porch of the house and peppered Richard with questions. Here are some of the things we learned:

The Men’s House is essentially the town hall for the village, only women are not allowed to enter. Boys are included once they are old enough to behave – usually around the age of ten. The frequency of meetings in the Men’s House depends on the village. It can be daily, weekly, monthly, etc. There are over a 120 villages on the island and their populations range from around 100 to 500 people.

The Men’s House is made out of the strongest mangrove trees and has a thatched roof. They have to re-thatch the roof every five years to maintain the building – and it’s a village wide effort. The women sew the thatching the men lay the roof.
Stone Money. So I asked the obvious question. What’s to stop someone from making more stone money? Every piece of stone money that’s legit is recorded. No more can be made. When stone money is given as a gift or for payment, the giver/payer explains the recipient the entire history of all the transactions that stone has been a part of—and it is the recipient’s duty to learn the stone’s story and share it with the next person they impart the stone to. For marriages there are fancy shells that the male’s family gives to the female’s family to suggest that the male’s family will take care of the daughter.

A few more facts… There are no firearms allowed in Yap. They also check all of the ships and flights for snakes, rats, frogs, insects – anything that could throw off the delicate ecological balance of the island. There are no crocodiles. There are also no snakes or monkeys on the island and they really want to keep it that way. Sometimes the locals kill and eat the fruit bats – it’s illegal but it happens.

We enjoyed the peacefulness of the mangroves and have enjoyed our very casual afternoon since then. We are 90% packed now, have paid our debt with the dive shop, and are enjoying one last afternoon with our friends on the Mnuw. We will soon be heading out for dinner and are then off to the airport for a quick flight to Palau! We board the Aggressor tomorrow evening! Woohoo! Yap has been a fantastic first half of the trip! Amazing :)